Natwerk Designs

how is math related to interior design?

me and my friend are doing a project and we need this answer. we have all the measurements and a few details but we need more. here are questions we asked real interior designists and we just need more information: What units of measurement do you use when designing a room? How do you find out how much paint you need for the walls? How do you find out other measurements throughout the room? examples: furniture, windows, rug etc. What is the hardest ting you do that involves math in interior design?

Public Comments

1. Having worked as an Interior Designer in New York as My First job out of College math is used in everything you design, build, put up ,roll out, install, hang, plug in, and decorate. Take for instance my first big contract was a brown-stone on the upper side of the city. I had a set budget of 50,000.00 to completely decorate the interior with drapery, sheers, ceiling lights, wall paint in each room, oriental carpets in two rooms window treatments in both the Master Bedroom and the guest bedroom. They added another , 75,000.00, contract for redoing the kitchen and all four bathroom. I used a Decorator program that helps keep track of material, labor, repairs, installation and removal costs and tracks all costs to my budget. First you measure each room and draw out the layout on your computer. I work on having the walls painted, with primers and finish paint and if you know the size of each room you can figure the cost for painting and add this to materials used and labor costs; To paint. The drapery and sheers are hung on custom boxes aboue the windows so again you need to measure each window and use these figures to have the custom sheer twist and drapery made and hung. This is added to materials used and cost to hang to labor. Rugs are bought so that the furniture is not touching the inside area of the rooms so again you measure the floor space and position what furniture will be added so your carpet will be untouched and large enough for the room. Measure everything and enter all measurements on to you floor layout. You will know everything about this home when you are finished so you can take you design planner, which is on your laptop with you when you are looking for oriental carpets, paint colors, fabric for draperys, etc. This makes your job very easy. Your questions; Sq. footage, height, width, length, floor space with and without furniture, hanging heights for lights, length for curtains, drapery from fixed boxes, and Hang heights for all wall paintings, pictures, murals. Paint coverage is stated on each can so you get the length and width of all walls that are going to be painted that color and get sq. ft and buy enough paint that will cover that figure. Length X width = coverage. You measure the floor, walls heights and width and put these numbers into your layout design. For furniture you need to know the measurements of each and suptract these figures so you know the space for your oriental rugs, carpets, etc. You must know how big the windows are so you can design the window treatments that will stick out from the sides X amount and stick out from the wall X amount and hand X amount from the top of the window hangers, bars, rods, etc. The hardest part using math to doing Interior Design is the total estimate for the complete, finished contract. Your measurements of each finished room that includes each item in your contractural design must include everything you will need to finish the total home Interior Design. I figure each room with all material used, cost of labor, materials, furnishings includes, my cost, contractors cost, design cost , then add each room together and then add my cost as the Interior Designer. This is the figure you put into your contact and sign. Your contract lists what you are doing, room by room and the cost per room. I include a copy of the colors, frabics, sheers, type of hangers, rods, hangers, etc and have the client sign off on each item. Many times I work with a fixed budget and you try to use up every cent in that budget. You substract each item until you have used up your budget. If you don't know the exact measurement of the windows you cannot design window treatments that fit each window. The same goes for each item in each room. The old carpenter's rule is measure twice and Cut once. It only takes a few measurements to be incorrect and you are losing money on your design plan. Remember this; You have to know each height, width, sq. ft of a room to do Interior Design. The first rule in Interior Design School is; "You are as good as your tape measure". Math is used in everything you will do in life. If you can make math work for you in design you can make a good living and you will appreciate all the 0's